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Archipel des Nouvelles-Hébrides : sols et quelques données du milieu naturel
... Various authors have emphasised the potential for archaeological studies, and studies of oral traditions, related to past volcanic eruptions to add texture to understandings of a range of aspects of past societies, as well as to inform contemporary disaster management strategies (Cronin & Cashman, 2007;Franks et al., 2024;Grattan & Torrence, 2002, 2007Nunn et al., 2022;Torrence & Doelman, 2007;Torrence, 2008Torrence, , 2016Torrence, , 2019. In Vanuatu, where there are currently 12 active volcanoes 1 located from the south to the north of the 2 Kuwae, Epi and Tongoa Islands archipelago, archaeological and volcanological research indicates an extensive eruptive history relating to these as well as now dormant volcanic sources encompassing the last 3000 years of human habitation (Bedford, 2019a;Bedford et al., 2006: 817;Garanger, 1972;Horrocks et al., 2009;McCall et al., 1970;Nemeth et al., 2009;Quantin, 1973;Shreve et al., 2021;Warden, 1967). Studying the volcanic histories of the islands is crucial to understanding how communities in Vanuatu have been affected by and adapted to such hazards over thousands of years and presents an opportunity to explore the relationship between adaptation and the formation and maintenance of traditional social networks. ...
... The north-western portion of Epi comprises a range of heavily eroded ancient volcanic features while in the east several prominent and well-preserved cones, including Mount Pomare and Tavani Ruro, reflect more recent volcanism, as do corresponding features on Tongoa. These cones are now dormant but some may well have been active during the last 3000 years of human settlement (Quantin, 1973;Warden, 1967). This broader setting also includes the active volcanoes on Lopevi and Ambrym, as well as the submarine Karua and East Epi volcanic systems; all have erupted numerous times during the last century, including the East Epi submarine volcano, which erupted most recently in February 2023. ...
This paper presents a detailed overview of archaeological research undertaken on Epi and Tongoa, in central Vanuatu. These islands were previously connected to one another and respectively formed the western and eastern portions of Kuwae, one of the largest islands in the Vanuatu archipelago, until the catastrophic Tombuk volcanic eruption separated them in the mid-fifteenth century AD. Oral traditions and insights drawn from previous ethnographic, linguistic and genetic research provide context for the archaeological data. We begin to address questions about the extent to which impacts of the major Tombuk eruption were experienced across the entirety of the former Kuwae landmass, and the role of this and other volcanic events in the complex transformations of the physical and cultural landscapes of central Vanuatu. RESUME Cet article présente un résumé détaillé des recherches archéologiques conduites sur Epi et Tongoa, deux îles situées dans le centre du Vanuatu. Ces îles étaient autrefois reliées l'une à l'autre, formant les parties occidentale et orientale de Kuwae, l'une des plus grandes îles de l'archipel de Vanuatu, jusqu'à ce que l'éruption volcanique dite de Tombuk les sépare, au milieu du XVème siècle après J.-C. Les traditions orales et les données issues de recherches ethnographiques, linguistiques et génétiques antérieures permettent de contextualiser ces données archéologiques. Nous nous interrogeons en particulier sur l'étendue de l'impact de cette éruption sur l'ancienne masse terrestre de Kuwae et sur l'influence qu'a eu cette éruption ainsi que d'autres événements volcaniques sur les transformations complexes des paysages physiques et culturels du centre de Vanuatu.
... The Vanuatu Archipelago lies west of the Andesite Line and is composed of basaltic rock types, such as gabbros, tholeiitic lavas, and calkalkaline basalts, which formed at various times (35 -,1 Ma) and display a relatively narrow range of 87 Sr/ 86 Sr ratios, between ,0.7030–0.7045 [14,102,103]. The Vanuatu island arc was formed during the subduction of the Indo-Australian Plate and the Pacific Plate, caused by a combination of magmatism and ocean floor uplift [104]. ...
... [104]. The active uplifting of many of the islands of Vanuatu, including Northeast Malakula, has raised coral reef limestone around coastal areas and formed small islands such as Uripiv and nearby Vao, Rano, Atchin, and Wala [103]. On the northeast coast of Malakula this uplift has occurred at a rate of about 1 m every thousand years [105]. ...
Vanuatu was first settled ca. 3000 years ago by populations associated with the Lapita culture. Models of diet, subsistence practices, and human interaction for the Lapita and subsequent occupation periods have been developed mainly using the available archaeological and paleoenvironmental data. We test these models using stable (carbon, nitrogen, and sulfur) and radiogenic (strontium) isotopes to assess the diet and childhood residency of past communities that lived on the small (<1 km2) island of Uripiv, located off the northeast coast of Malakula, Vanuatu. The burials are from the initial Lapita occupation of the island (ca. 2800–2600 BP), the subsequent later Lapita (LL, ca. 2600–2500 BP) and post-Lapita (PL, ca. 2500–2000 BP) occupations, in addition to a late prehistoric/historic (LPH, ca. 300–150 BP) occupation period. The human stable isotope results indicate a progressively more terrestrial diet over time, which supports the archaeological model of an intensification of horticultural and arboricultural systems as local resources were depleted, populations grew, and cultural situations changed. Pig diets were similar and included marine foods during the Lapita and PL periods but were highly terrestrial during the LPH period. This dietary pattern indicates that there was little variation in animal husbandry methods during the first 800 years of prehistory; however, there was a subsequent change as animal diets became more controlled in the LPH period. After comparison with the local bioavailable 87Sr/86Sr baseline, all of the Lapita and LPH individuals appeared to be ‘local’, but three of the PL individuals were identified as “non-local.” We suggest that these “non-locals” moved to the island after infancy or childhood from one of the larger islands, supporting the model of a high level of regional interaction during the post-Lapita period.
... South Pacific island soils derived from basalt have been widely investigated in several countries including Samoa (Asghar et al., 1988;Morrison, 1991;Schroth, 1970;Wright, 1963), the Cook Islands (Lee et al., 1979;Widdowson and Blakemore, 1977), Vanuatu (Quantin, 1978) and Fiji (Latham, 1979;Naidu et al., 1987). Soils vary from older, strongly weathered low pH and low base saturation Ultisols to relatively young soils having high base saturation and intermediate pH (i.e., 5.7-6.5). ...
Detailed studies of basalt weathering in the South Pacific Islands are relatively rare. In order to address this gap, this study investigated weathering changes and soil formation for the predominantly fine-grained feldspar-phyric basalt flows (6.4 Ma) in the Nasinu area, about 10 km north-north-east of Suva, Fiji. In the hot humid environment locally, these rocks have been subjected to rapid and deep weathering. Three weathering profiles (Nasinu S1, S2 and S3 at approximately 60 m elevation) show features of strong kaolinitisation. Aluminium and iron enrichment in the horizons of the Nasinu weathering profiles is marked, with the presence of kaolinite, gibbsite, goethite, haematite and magnetite (grains) confirming substantial mineralogical change. Suggested mechanisms for these changes are presented. Using Soil Taxonomy, the Nasinu soil pedon (JBS-1) developed on the weathered basalt is a Typic Palehumult, very fine, mixed, isohyperthermic. A comparison is made with the weathering pattern of the Nakobalevu basalt located only about 25 km from this location.
... The archipelago of Vanuatu is composed of more than 80 volcanic islands extending for 1000 km in a north-south direction (Quantin, 1972). The land mass covers 12,200 km² and supports a total population estimated at 186,700 people: Melanesians (98%) and Asians, Europeans or Polynesians (2%) (National Statistics Office, 2000). ...
The "Vanuatu Breadfruit Project" was launched in 2004 with support from the Pacific Agricultural Plant Genetic Resources Network (PAPGREN). The main goals were to make a non-exhaustive botanical survey of breadfruit cultivars in Vanuatu, document ethnological information and collect samples of suckers or roots of each cultivar to establish the first genebank in Vanuatu and to disseminate this information and genetic material to other Islands in the country. Six Islands were surveyed and 69 cultivars collected and described according to standardized descriptors for passport and morphological data. A field collection of 36 cultivars which survived transport and planting was established at the Vanuatu Agricultural Research and Technical Centre (VARTC) on the Island of Espiritu Santo. A new strategy is suggested to enhance the survival rate of cuttings for future collections. Vanuatu cultivars displayed a wide diversity of fruit characteristics (size, seed number, skin texture, amount and color of latex, etc.) and shape of leaves. Vernacular names and traditional uses of breadfruit by the local population were recorded using participatory methods. Each part of the tree has a very specific use, e.g., leaves in medicine, trunk for timber, male flowers against mosquitoes, latex to catch birds, and some secret parts in "black magic". Fruits are eaten roasted on fire or as "nalot", a paste with coconut milk, and sometimes after a few months of fermentation. A drying method observed in North Vanuatu may be a way to process fruit for export.
... Basalt-derived soils have been extensively investigated in a number of countries of the South Pacific including Samoa (Latham, 1979;Morrison, 1991;Schroth, 1970;Wright, 1963), the Cook Islands (Widdowson and Blakemore, 1977;Lee et al., 1979), Vanuatu (Quantin 1978) and Fiji (Morrison et al., 1986Naidu et al., 1987). The soils range from young soils with high base saturation and intermediate pH (e.g., 5.7 -6.5), to older more highly-leached and weathered soils of lower pH (4.8 -5.6) and lower base saturation. ...
The augite-olivine flows (5.3 Ma) capping Mount Nakobalevu, a few kilometres north-west of Suva, Fiji, have been subjected to rapid and deep weathering. The Nakobalevu K1 and K2 weathering profiles (at approximately 454 m altitude) show features of strong bauxitisation, and the attributes of a 'classical' lateritic profile. Aluminium and iron enrichment in the 2-3 m depth layers of the Nakobalevu weathering profiles is marked, with the presence of abundant gibbsite (as gravels and nodules, and in the silt and clay-sized fractions), goethite, kaolinite, haematite and magnetite (grains); the presence of fragmented (goethitic and gibbsitic) crustal materials in each of the studied horizons, and the distribution pattern of the Al2O3, Fe2O3 and SiO2, would infer the occurrence of several erosion and weathering cycles, some of which would have evolved under drier climatic regimes. Using Soil Taxonomy, the Nakobalevu Pedon (JBK-1) is a Typic Kandihumult, clayey, kaolinitic, isohyperthermic, which does not give any indication of the gibbsitic materials present.
This article documents the significant horizontal (across the landscape) and vertical (across the stratigraphy) chemical variability of volcanic clays from Vanuatu, South Pacific. Data illustrate why the chemical composition of the clay matrix in pottery should be used very cautiously in characterization or provenance studies. The variability of natural clays on Efate, Erromango, and Malekula is so significant that the data set disproves the assumption that two pottery samples with clay matrices showing similar chemical composition necessarily originate from the same location, the same bedrock, the same region, or even from the same island. This study is also a reminder that the outcomes of chemical characterizations and provenance studies of pottery are directly dependent on the scale at which the investigation is undertaken. In light of the data, it is also clear that such studies should not be undertaken in other similar insular environments affected by regular volcanic activity along the Circum‐Pacific Belt without assessing the natural variability of the raw material. Without an adequate sampling of natural clay representative of the vertical and geographic variability, the results from the chemical analysis of clay matrices risk of leading to incorrect associations between pots and procurement areas.
Traditional agricultural systems have been a fundamental research focus of Pacific archaeologists for decades. In many island groups, it has been demonstrated that whole landscapes have been transformed to facilitate increased agricultural production. High-resolution digital elevation models (DEM) derived from recent LiDAR survey data from Efate, Central Vanuatu, have now revealed that much of that island was completely modified by human activity prior to European contact. There are a range of substantial and more minor linear mound and circular features associated with agricultural development and innovation, of which researchers and contemporary populations are largely unaware. Detailed analysis of the features across one alluvial plain provides some quantification of the scale of landscape modification. These new data radically change perceptions of the Efate landscape and contribute to a range of debates including traditional Pacific Island food production, its surplus and sustainability, sociopolitical development, environmental change and depopulation.
Soil sequences derived from Tertiary and Quaternary volcanic rocks in the Canary Islands have been investigated according to their exposure being to the north or to the south and to altitude.Some of the soil characteristics are described, emphasising the evolution in the sequences and the conditions of genesis.The northern sequence is divided into two parallel catenas, the differences in which are due to the age of parent materials. From top to bottom, the old sequence includes ferrallitic soils, fersiallitic soils and finally vertisols. The Recent sequence, includes andosols and brown soils. Thus, the distribution is related with climatic altitudinal zonality: perhumid at the top, then contrasted (with alternating humid and dry seasons) and finally subarid near the coast; this zonality is also reflected by the plant geography. The relationships between soils and present-day climatic zones are evident for Recent formations: andosols and perhumid climate, brown soils and contrasted climate. These relationships seem equally plausible for the more ancient formations. The authors suggest a direct lineage between unsaturated andosols and ferrallitic soils on the one hand, and between brown soils and fersiallitic soils on the other.The southern sequence comprises, successively from the top downwards: andic brown soils, typic brown soils, fersiallitic soils, vertisols, cinnamonic soils and sodic soils. Because of a much lesser deposition of Recent volcanic material, only one sequence can be noted. The soil distribution is also related to a climatic and vegetational altitudinal zonality. Moreover, the sequence has a greater extension towards the arid pole, because the south slope is less rainy than the north. The relationships between soil genesis and existing climatic conditions still seem very plausible for the upper part of the sequence, especially the andic brown, the typic brown and the fersiallitic soils. In the lower part of the sequence, however, the authors suggest that the evolution is related to the fluctuations of Quaternary climate. At the time of the last fluctuation, after a more humid climate favoring clay formation, there followed an increasingly arid climate producing calcium carbonate accumulation, gypsum and finally sodification of soils as well as genesis of palygorskite.RésuméDes séquences de sols issus de roches volcaniques d'âge tertiaire et quaternaire ont été observées aux Canaries, en fonction de l'exposition au Nord ou Sud et de l'altitude.Les auteurs rappellent quelques caractères des sols, montrent leur évolution dans les séquences et discutent enfin des conditions de leur genèse.La séquence septentrionale est subdivisée en deux caténas parallèles, dont la différence vient de l'âge plus ancien ou plus récent des matériaux originels. Du sommet vers le bas, la séquence de sols anciens comporte des sols ferrallitiques, puis des sols fersiallitiques et enfin des vertisols. La séquence des sols d'évolution récente comporte des andosols et des sols bruns. La distribution des sols est ainsi reliée à la zonalité altitudinale du climat: perhumide au sommet, puis ‘contrasté’ (à saisons humides et sèches alternées), et enfin subaride près du littoral; cette zonalitè est aussi reflétée par la phyto-géographie. La relation entre sols et zones climatiques actuelles est évidente pour les formations récentes: andosols et climat perhumide, sols bruns et climat contrasté. Elle semble aussi plausible pour les formations plus anciennes. Les auteurs suggèrent une filiation entre les andosols désaturés et les sols ferrallitiques d'une part, les sols bruns et les sols fersiallitiques d'autre part.La séquence méridionale comporte successivement du haut vers le bas: des sols bruns andiques, des sols bruns typiques, des sols fersiallitiques, des vertisols, des sols marrons et des sols sodiques. On n'y observe pas deux caténas parallèles, par suite du moindre apport récent, en surface, de projections volcaniques. La distribution des sols correspond aussi à une zonalité climatique et phytogéographique altitudinale. En outre, cette séquence est plus étundue vers le pôle aride, car le versant sud est moins pluvieux que le versant nord. La relation entre la genèse des sols et les conditions climatiques actuelles semble encore très plausible pour la partie supérieure de la séquence, notamment les sols bruns andiques, les sols bruns typiques et les sols fersiallitiques. Mais dans la partie inférieure de cette même séquence, les auteurs suggèrent une évolution de la pédogenese consécutive des fluctuations climatiques quaternaires. Lors de la dernière fluctuation, à un climat plus humide permettant l'argilogenèse, aurait succédé un climat de plus en plus aride qui aurait produit progressivement l'accumulation de calcaire, puis de gypse, et l'alcalisation des sols ainsi que la genèse d'attapulgite.
Using 3D architectural models to assess light availability and root bulkiness in agroforestry systems. In many parts of the humid tropics, coconut trees are frequently intercropped with food crops, or tree crops such as cocoa.
The performance of such systems depends on planting patterns, but also on growing conditions for crops below the coconut canopy
throughout the development of the coconut trees. We used a modelling approach providing indicators for assessing above-ground
competition for light and below-ground competition for space, in order to optimize intercropping in coconut smallholdings.
Light transmission and the number of coconut roots in the interrow were assessed in coconut smallholdings from 6 to 60years
old. The modelling of light transmission through coconut stands was based on three-dimensional virtual coconut trees and a
numerical light model that computed the shade cast by coconut trees on underlying crops. Root colonization in the interrow
was assessed with virtual 3D coconut root systems. Our results showed that intercropping with shade-tolerant species was not
limited by light transmission from the 35th year after coconut tree planting. However, at that stage of coconut tree development,
the density of primary roots in the interrow limited intercrop development, especially for root and tuber crops. Alteration
of the planting pattern over time increased light transmission but did not significantly affect root density. This modelling
approach, which involved little parameterization that was easily done, appeared to be an efficient tool for recommending coconut
tree planting patterns and densities, as well as indicating intercrop potential depending on their location in the most sunlit
areas with minimum root competition.
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